Hartford Municipal ID Program To Begin In September

Mara Lavitt / Special to The Courant

Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra held a press conference to announce plans for a municipal identification program for all Hartford citizens regardless of race, age, gender, arrest or conviction record, citizenship status or sexual orientation.

Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra held a press conference to announce plans for a municipal identification program for all Hartford citizens regardless of race, age, gender, arrest or conviction record, citizenship status or sexual orientation. (Mara Lavitt / Special to The Courant)

HARTFORD — Undocumented immigrants, the homeless and other city residents will have better access to city services starting in September, when officials roll out a new municipal identification card program.

The city council on Monday approved the plan by a vote of 7-0. Two members were absent.

The cards would include a resident's name, date of birth, photo and address, with the option of being used as a debit card. All city agencies and employees, including Hartford police officers, will accept the Hartford city ID as proof of identity and residency, officials said. It could also be used to borrow library books, or enroll in the city's English language classes and skills programs.

"It's so important," Councilman Kenneth Kennedy said Tuesday. "People need to have identification. They need to be part of the system. It's the humane thing to do. People really take advantage of folks when they don't have any identification or financial wherewithal."

Any city resident may apply for the ID card, regardless of citizenship, gender, sexual orientation or criminal record.

The program, self-funded through application fees, is modeled in part after New Haven's municipal ID program, the first of its kind in the country when it was rolled out in 2007 as both a practical and symbolic gesture to the city's immigrants, many of whom lived in fear without official identification that tied them to their new home. The cost to apply for a card is $15 for adults and $10 for people 17 and younger.

Applicants will need to establish proof of identity and proof of residency.

Mayor Pedro Segarra has estimated that as many as 20,000 undocumented immigrants live in the city, and said that more than 3,000 homeless people live in shelters or on the streets during the course of a year.

"I think that our city is well on its way to finally providing identification to thousands of individuals who don't have a way to present their identity," Segarra said Tuesday. "Identity needs to be demonstrated before you can participate in a social program, and this definitely goes a long way in terms of helping out."

Segarra said the city will issue a request for proposals to find a vendor that would operate the program at no cost to the city. The vendor would work with a banking institution so that the IDs could be used as debit cards.

City officials also will appoint a program administrator. Segarra said he is studying other cities that issue municipal identification cards to determine how best to operate the program.

Cities that have adopted similar programs include San Francisco; Oakland; Richmond, Calif.; Los Angeles; New York City; and Washington, D.C.

More than a dozen supporters went before the city council last month to urge approval of the initiative.